Thinking credit card bankruptcy is your relief? The statements came in the mail, just like they do each month. The legislation proposed by the Obama administration was supposed to help out the common man but you can only make minimum payments on the cards. To pay them off would require more money than you make. The result of the legislation actually was to increase your interest rates.

Surfing the Federal Trade Commission site, you located a payoff calculator for credit card debt. By putting in the balance, interest rate, and minimum payment, the calculator would project the time to payoff. At the 29.9% rate, the result was that the minimum payments would not retire the debt during your remaining lifetime. You can hardly afford that payment anyway.

What can you do? There really is not any alternative left. To pay off the debt, you would not be able to have anything as far as you can see. Your family cannot afford that money and would risk losing their home and future prospects.

You have survived losing your job and with your new prospects, you need to be able to get a clean start.

A “clean start” is what you need and can get through filing bankruptcy. You just don’t feel right about the thought of filing though. On the other hand, big corporations like General Motors have been bailed out by President Obama, through bankruptcy. Your upbringing as a child was very definite that debts must be paid back. You cannot be thrown in jail for not paying debts in this country. The people who made the laws provided bankruptcy as a route for forgiveness from that debt.

While punishment for non-payment would seem to be the purpose, bankruptcy is really about forgiveness. We dream as Americans about the goal of being able to have a financial freedom for our families. The law provides a fresh start for a new beginning.

Don’t even think about filing bankruptcy without getting sound legal advice and planning ahead. Debt counseling is a prerequisite before you can take the step of filing for relief. You are only part way though once a bankruptcy discharge is in your hands. Your credit still must be repaired after discharge through participating in a credit repair course to really give you a clean slate to begin again.

Want to find out more about credit card bankruptcy, then visit James Montgomery’s site on how to choose the best credit card help for your needs. Free reprint avaialable from: Credit Card Bankruptcy Your Only Option?.

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You may or may not have a set of written goals. If you do not, then I strongly urge you to make a written set of goals and clarify what you want to achieve.

Think of a time in your life when you achieved something you really wanted. Did you doubt it would happen and believe that you could not achieve it? Or did you have a solid sense of knowing that it would happen and doubt never entered into your mind?

Folks who succeed have are sure they will get there and reach success. You have to be the same way, as you go after your goals. Don’t even entertain the possibility of failing. Approach your goals with positive expectation. This will move you progressively towards your goals.

One of the greatest ways to develop this strong feeling is by using visualization.

You probably already use this powerful technique in your life. Many of us run through things in our heads before actually doing them.

Successful visualization is powerful. At first, it takes practice. It is easy to get distracted. With practice you will get better at it.

Visualization works like this.

The first step is to decide on a goal you want to accomplish.

2) Picture an image of this goal in your mind

Next, use visualization to put yourself in the experience of having already achieved it. Use all 5 senses. Make it seem as reall as possible.

Fourth, spend at least ten minutes being there. If doubtful thoughts present themselves, eliminate them and stay positive. If you find yourself drifting to other thoughts, simply bring yourself back into this movie.

Remember this movie throughout your day. In life, we get what we think about all day long. If we can keep our mind on what it will feel like after we have reached our goals, the universe will get us there. What we are really doing here is installing software on our brain that will program us for success.

With some goals you may want to keep them private. If you are trying to get fit and your friends know you have been less than energetic in the past when you tell them your goal, they will laugh and joke and not believe you. This doubt and disbelief can affect your belief in yourself and in your goal, which in turn can lead to failure to achieve the goal.

Don’t let the discouraging feedback of those around you come into this equation. Keep your goals to yourself. It will be fun to see their reaction and hear their feedback upon seeing you reach those goals. Show them. Don’t tell them.

Insisting On Success

Another method for achieving your goals is to use affirmations, which means you repeat your goal again and again to yourself. This is another method of programming your subconscious mind, which is the source of all action.

You must write these affirmations of a sheet of paper for yourself. Use motivating language and make it crystal clear, with amounts and exact dates for achieving your goals. It is not enough to say you want to earn alot of money. Instead, say I will earn $10,000 per month by July of this year.

A good affirmation is “I want to lose 10 pounds by the end of this year.” This sends the right messages to your subconscious. It knows that you exactly how much you have to lose (10 pounds) and when this must be done by (the end of this year). You know precisely what you have to do and when it has to be done by.

Writing down our plan to get there is the next step. What steps will you take to get there by the date you have established. What will you do each and every day to get there?

Little Steps

You may have a big goal such as “To have an income in excess of 100,000 a year by the time I am 35″ (notice the goal is specific in both the timescale and the amount and does not put an upper limit on your earning potential.)

This goal is to large for our brain to get around. It may even decrease our belief and motivation level a bit. You doubt it, so you must reduce it into tiny action steps that you can really see yourself taking.

Divide those big goals into smaller ones and attach action steps to each one.

It is easier for our subconscious to believe the smaller ones, and belief is key here. Plus, the small successes along the way motivate us more than we even imagine. This helps us in our believing.

Review your big and small goals each and every day. That way your subconscious mind remains focused on them and remember: We Get What We Think About The Most. It is also important to review these goals often and make little adjustments, so you are not repeating mistakes over and over.

Reaching our dreams and goals is not a cake-walk. It takes work, being committed, being driven, being a planner, being a believer and more, but it is worth every effort we make. If you successfully practice proper goal setting techniques, there is nothing you can’t achieve. Believe and achieve.

Want to find out more about achieving your goals, methods to get there? Then visit Mike Koller’s blog. Also grab his best-selling book 3 Secrets Of Millionaires for more awesome strategies.

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In the last few decades folks have abandoned the old philosophy of financial savings and have moved towards larger debt. Counting on debt financing to purchase your everyday things is a huge strain on the financial health of any person. A lowered amount of cash in the bank can make it a lot more tough to survive any hardships which will arise throughout different economic slumps that may occur.

Over the past couple years the weakened market has been also correlated to a low savings rate by persons. Having a massive amount of savings can allow you to pay off your housing payments and monthly expenses if you abruptly lose your employment or supply of income.

If you have a savings trust for rainy periods is prepared to handle any problems which will occur with their finances. Having a minimum of 6 months of daily expenses will enable you to weather any financially slow periods that occur. If you do not have enough cash saved within the account there’s a good chance that you can finish up defaulting on some of your loan obligations.

Most people who do not have a significant quantity of financial savings in their bank account additionally struggle with a poor credit rating. People who don’t save cash for periods of financial uncertainty are the most likely to suffer from a low credit score. The majority the population are often financially secure with their existing income till one thing takes place that causes them to have a lowered income.

People who suffer from a poor credit rating should take the proper steps to enhance the overall credit score. Reducing your credit debt is a good way to start building up your credit score over fixed period of time. By saving a massive proportion of your income you’ll be better prepared to accommodate any sudden which may arise.

Anyone who is ready to maintain their credit rating are more likely to secure loans from lending establishments. You can notice that most lenders aren’t willing to lend cash to somebody who is not able to keep up a smart credit score. It should be your goal to try and achieve a good credit score to scale back the interest rates on any future debt you may have.

There are government grants that are available for for those who are wanting to get assistance from the govt when it involves folks with low credit ratings. Government grants are the perfect way to get financial assistance while not having to fret about a bad credit score. Because these free grants are very popular, you’ll want to do your groundwork to get them approved.

For those who are looking to find information about getting out of credit card debt it’s vital that you do your research and look around at the different choices that are offered. Another option that you may need to have a look at when you’re searching around is information about managing credit card debt.

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In the state of Washington a collection agency can only charge 12% interest. My debt was a bit over $12,000 when I signed a wage assignment in 2001. Over the course of the next 5 1/2 years I had $216 taken out of my check and sent to the collection agency. The wage assignment (which i have a copy of) only states that once the little over $12,000 was paid then I would no longer be garnished.

The wage assignment doesn’t say anything anywhere about interest being charged. Once the principle amount was paid, my payroll department quite taking the money out. 6 months later I received a letter from the collection agency that I owed over $15,000 yet to them. I got on the phone immediately and was informed it was due to interest that had accrued.

Well that sounded fishy to begin with since I couldn’t fathom how my interest could’ve racked up so high above the principle amount since I’d been making payments for so long every month. I requested the collection agency to send me a statement, she himmed and hawwed and told me that they couldn’t really give me a statement. But she could give me a printout from their computer software, that was confusing and I probably wouldn’t be able to follow it anyway. Yeah, she was right, when I got it I was confused.

That was in June of 2007. In September of 2007 the collection company made a ‘deal’ with me – they would lower what I owed them to an even $10,000 and freeze the interest with a $200 a month payment. I figured at that point, okay – it didn’t smell right to me but if they said I owed interest, maybe I owed interest, so I agreed. In the back of my mind I was thinking it didn’t sound right and that I would need to eventually look into it.

After paying a little more than $4000 to them for ‘interest’ charges, I’m looking into it. Since 57.5% of the debt they had on me was a student loan they couldn’t charge me anymore than 5% interest per annum, the rest they could charge me 12% interest per annum. According to my calculations they charged me about 24% per annum on all of it.

So I want to get an itemized statement from this collection agency from the inception of the debt. How can I go about doing this, or am I pretty well out of luck on trying to get this statement?
Re: CatDad – this was a student loan, but it was a Perkins loan which is a loan from the college itself.

The 2007 ‘deal’ was not in writing per say, it was verbal, in 2008 I requested a statement. They sent me a printout showing 2 years of payments and written next to September of 2007 it mentions the ‘deal’.

Re: Jon B The college is not satisfied, it shows I still owe $66 and that it hasn’t been paid on in over 120 days. The garnishment stopped because the assignment of wages amount was satisfied and my corporate office refused to garnish anymore.
Thank you for that letter!
Re: Pablo, according to the collection agency I still owe the exorbitant amount in interest. That’s why I’ve been paying $200 a month for the last year and a half. I’ve watched my Perkins loan slowly dwindle to the $66 it is at currently. They took amounts of my payments and paid themselves, then paid my debts from what was left.
I didn’t seek an IS because I didn’t dispute the debt, I do dispute the interest.
The ’statement’ I have from the CA states on the bottom that it charges 12% per annum except on student loans, they charge 5% per annum (which is how much the college charges).

Re: Renda M, I’m going to be writing letters to everyone I can think of LOL

BTW does anyone know how I can answer instead of having to edit my original post?

If your wages have stopped being garnished and the government is satisfied- you don’t owe the collection agency SQUAT!

if they are sending you settlement letters make a copy of it and write across the original this with a pen: VOID FOR FRAUD!
and send this letter with it:
RE: account#xxxxxx

Legal Department,

Your papers attached hereto are REFUSED, DENIED AND RETURNED FOR FRAUD. For an enforceable debt claim to be lawful all parties must consent to contract. I have never given consent to contract with your company. In addition, evidence of debt alone does not make you a person entitled to collect. If your presumption is you’ve obtained tactic or implied consent, you have now been put on notice that any subrogation has now been rebutted and any presumption of consent is hereby VOID for fraud.

Further, the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act does not give you the authority to force me to consent to contract with you. Show me your lawful authority to enforce an alleged debt claim against me to my detriment without my consent.

Also you have not proven the alleged debt is valid or the amount of the alleged debt is accurate. You must prove that the Principal, Interest, and Collection Costs are correct, agreed to in contract, and Lawfully charged. I also insist that you come up with the Contract, Account Statements and Purchase Receipts to prove the amount of the alleged debt.

You are also in violation of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act by the use of misleading representations and unfair and deceptive practices in the attempted collection of a debt.
You are a third party and were not present when the alleged debt was being formed and cannot give First-Hand testify to the veracity of the alleged debt,payments made or processed.

If you cannot substantively answer within 15 days and either prove your authority or prove a specific contractual obligation exists between you and me, then cease and desist and immediately remove any derogatory reporting to the credit bureaus. Further, as an act of good faith provide me written confirmation this matter has been resolved and any negative reporting to the credit bureaus has ceased.

Should you ignore this letter and continue your collection efforts I will have no other choice but to have my local Congressman forward your fraudulent papers to the Federal Trade Commission, Attorney General and the Postal Inspection Service for further scrutiny.

Sincerely,

Then, Dispute the collection acount with the credit bureaus like this:

XXX collection
Account#xxxxx: i do not have a contract with this company, and they have refused my request to verify that this account is valid. Please investigate and have this item deleted.

hopr this helps ya! jon

The first step in filing for chapter thirteen is to attend credit counseling. This is required by the bankruptcy code. Only certain agencies are approved for this counseling, so be sure to consult with your bankruptcy attorney to make sure the agency you use will qualify. The agency may come up with a plan for you to pay back your debts. If so, you have to give a copy of the plan to the court when you file for bankruptcy.

Your repayment plan must be submitted to the court within fourteen days from the date you file your bankruptcy papers. Most likely, your lawyer will submit your paperwork for you and will do it all at the same time. Sometimes the plan will be filed later so that you can have an earlier filing date so you can get the foreclosure process stopped and give yourself a little more time to prepare the plan.

After filing, a creditor’s meeting will be set up. You must appear at this meeting to answer your creditors’ questions about your repayment plan. Some of your creditors may question the amount you are proposing to pay. They want to make sure that you will not have any money left over after paying your debts and necessary living expenses.

After the meeting has been conducted, the bankruptcy judge can take up to 45 days to approve or deny your proposal. In any case, you are required to start making the payments proposed under the plan within 30 days, so that means you may have to start paying on the plan before you know whether it will be accepted.

The biggest drawback to using chapter thirteen bankruptcy to stop foreclosure is that if you are unable to pay the payments as agreed, you could still end up going through foreclosure. The judge can dismiss your case or make you go through chapter seven, where your assets are sold to cover your debts, if you don’t pay everything as agreed. For this reason, you should consider all of the potential risks and benefits before deciding to go ahead with filing for bankruptcy.

Call Janian & Associates for a free consultation with a Loan Modification Attorney.

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